Ants in growbags?!?!

[Lady of Shallots]

I have lettuce, tomatoes, red onions and spinach growing, very successfully so far, in several growbags in a sunny spot in my garden. Yesterday, while harvesting some lettuce leaves, I notices that there were orange coloured ants crawling all over them! After a closer inspection, I realised that the growbags are full of them - they must have a nest in there or something!

They're not the kind of black ants I'm used to seeing in other gardens (I've not been here for long), they are orangey and smaller than the black ones.

Anyway, I just wondered if they are doing any damage to my veggies? They seem to be favouring the lettuces best, which I am now noticing have lots of very small holes in and I also realise that ants 'farm' aphids - there are more of these on the veg than before too!

Should I be bothered, or just leave them to it? I imagine they're keeping the soil aerated, but will they eat my veg?

Please help! x

[wyntermoon]

hi,
my whole garden(and house) are full of them its sooooooooooo annoying, we were worried about them eating veg too but they seem to leave them alone they do however bring aphids i believe, my herbs on my kitchen windowsill were covered in them and have discovered that they have been in my lettuce that i have just moved into a greenhouse, there seems to be less soil there now too, they did get into a christmas cactus in a pot in living room and destroyed it we have usual blackones and some lighter brown ones too but so far (touch wood) they dont seem to be disturbing plants too much
hope someone can come along and help us out (we have a lot in common with ants and bindweed lol)
Wynter
x

[Lady of Shallots]

Originally Posted by wyntermoon

hope someone can come along and help us out (we have a lot in common with ants and bindweed lol)
Wynter
x

Ha ha we do! You don't live on my street do you?!?!

I dug up one of their nests the other day and so far they don't seem to have rebuilt it! I dug up the eggs and left them for the birds to eat (did feel a little guilty about that, poor baby ants!) but they're still all over the garden! And so are the aphids...

[paulsherwin]

If they really have built a nest in your growbag it suggests it isn't damp enough. Try doing a bit of vigorous watering.

A kettle of boiling water will kill the queen and most of the eggs, but won't do your veggies much good.

Paul